Ken Watanabe as "Katsumoto" in "The Last Samurai": Take reviews by some film critics with a huge grain of salt!

Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) helps Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) hold off an assassination attempt by deadly Ninja

Seeing this film not with intelligence, nor for an eye for entertainment, but with a pre-established anti-Hollywood bias, it's no wonder certain "critics" make complete fools of themselves! ASSUMING that the film WILL butcher history, without themselves knowing what history is, they ridicule matters of historical fact as though they were fanciful fiction. In some cases they seem to not even remember what happened 5 minutes before...

...it makes you wonder if they missed whole scenes while smoking buts in the john!

For now I'll address the rubbish I've found most. I'll follow up with specific excerpts when I have time to find them all again. Later, I'll point to all the historical references you could possibly need for those items that demand it.

1)..."Katsumoto conveniently can speak English."

High-ranking Samurai DID know how to speak foreign languages. They were required to spend part of the year in the captial city of Japan (now Tokyo), and quite a few spent a short period of time studying overseas. Many Samurai in top government posts were delegates to foreign nations during the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, or negotiated with visitors to Japan. Saigo Takamori was a member of the council until his resignation (over Okubu's sneaky refusal to tell the Emperor he had been promoted) not long before his rebellion. Saigo's rebellion was due in major part, if not in full, to a foiled attack on Satsuma domain and plan to assassinate Saigo.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting reviewers should actually know Samurai history. You don't even have to know that Buddhist monks were largely responsible for education before the Meiji Revolution [ Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, 1984, Vol. 14, "Japan" ].

But when you see a man practicing Buddhist meditation at the beginning of the film, and you know the guy is a pretty important Samurai (he's leading a rebellion, after all), and he mentions in one of his early conversations with Algren, "My family built this temple over 900 years ago," and you know he was the current emperor's teacher, you should have a clue that he's well-educated...especially when Katsumoto and Nathan Algren swap bits of poetry!

Audiences can get the guist of it, but apparently reviewers can't. Don't you love how American reviewers think the American public is stupid?

2)..."Tom's character manages to learn Japanese and swordsmanship in just a few weeks!"

The first time Katsumoto speaks to Nathan, he says, "This is my son's village. We are high in the mountains and winter is coming. You cannot escape!" Katsumoto is not very talkative--so when he speaks, you tend to pay attention!

Apparently, when reviewers miss "important" things, they just make up their own. There are no other referrences to time. So, if you missed this, a person with common sense will think he stayed in the village, well, however long it took him to learn Japanese and swordfighting. A Hollywood-bashing (or is that Tom-Cruise-bashing?) reviewer will invent a ridiculous time out of thin air...the silliest they can invent!

3)..."A white guy has to go and 'save the day' for them."

The reviewers try to pass the whole premise of this movie off as though the scriptwriter thinks that white men are superior...HILARIOUS, considering that such reviewers have shown it is THEY who think 'white guys' are superior by ASSUMING an English-speaking Samurai is a Hollywood invention! (Maybe they would like to think the English language was a brand-new invention of the United States?)

NOW HEAR THIS...there WAS an American military man who was sent over to help the Japanese and ended up, instead, fighting on the Samurai side! Strangely enough, Ed Zwick is not aware of this, for all his interest in Samurai during his life. In the Foreword to The Last Samurai: Official Movie Guide Ed writes, "Were there American military men in Japan at the time?...Did an important Samurai leader rebel?...But the notion that the two came together in common cuase is a literary fancy."

Obviously, it's one of those facts I have to find the reference to again so I can post it. (Saigo Takamori is not the Samurai that the American helped). I will start with telling you that one of the quickest ways to find out about Japanese history and culture is to go to Amazon.com and read reviews of books on Japanese history and culture. If you can endure reading though reader reviews, you will find that a lot of highly-educated Japanese natives and transplants, in the course of their reviews, post enough quotes for you to pick up a lot of facts. Many of these books were written in Japanese and translated into English, while others are the works of foreign scholars who specialize in Japanese history. Some are collections of the ACTUAL WRITINGS of very imporant Samurai and other historical figures.

4)..."Unbelievably, Katsumoto sticks Nathan in the home of his sister, Taka, the widow of a man that Nathan killed in battle"

When you know how important manners and hospitality are to the Japanese, ("even among enemies", as Katsumoto would say), this is not so "unbelievable". Of course he'd want him to stay where he can keep an eye on him, too! The prisoner is also shadowed constantly by a guard.

At one point Katsumoto's sister, Taka, pleads for his permission to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). If I posted any more about that scene, it would be a spoiler!

5)...One reviewer commented on the slow-motion sequences before Nathan Algren is captured, basically accusing Tom of wanting some limelight. Many scoff that Katsumoto "conveniently" decides to spare Nathan's life "apparently, for the sole purpose of 'practicing English' or 'learning from his enemy.'"

The very first scene of the movie--before the credits even roll--is Katsumoto in meditation. He has a vision of a scene in a fog-shrouded forest, where a ferocious, roaring white tiger is surrounded by his warriors, insterspersed with visions of a waving battle flag with a tiger design. Any dope watching the movie knows this must be important!

I don't know what is so important to Katsumoto about white tigers (Japan does not have tigers, so I would suppose we are to assume he learned of them in Korea or China). But the majority of Japan has always been Shinto (which is based on ancestor-worship and nature-worship), with most Shintoists also practicing Buddhism [ Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, 1984, Vol.14, "Japan" ]. Whatever the reason, the tiger is the symbol, if you will, of Katsumoto's warriors. Therefore, he takes this vision VERY SERIOUSLY.

** SPOILER ALERT! (highlight with cursor to read) **

It is when Nathan is on his last legs, valliantly, desperately trying to keep Katsumoto's fearsome warriors at bay with the lance he has managed to get away from one of them, that we find this out. The slow-mo only lasts a few seconds and shows the tiger battle flag hanging from it. This happens just after Katsumoto comes upon the scene and dismounts, yanking down his mask in amazement at Nathan's refusal to give up. Katsumoto knows Nathan is the 'white tiger' of his vision...knows there is SOME reason Nathan is here, and calls a halt to everything just before Nathan would actually have been killed.

As we see in a later scene in the village with Katsumoto, his son, and his top warrior, no one else understands his actions, either. Also, since Nathan is not samurai, there is no reason why he should commit ritual suicide, as this is not his way. Katsumoto doesn't quite understand his own actions, either, but refutes their arguments and decides to learn about his enemy. When he finds the vast notes Nathan has gathered on the Samurai and always carries with him, he realizes this is not a bad idea. Great minds think alike!

6)...One review called the Samurai armour too over-the-top, or fanciful, or something like that

Even shortly after the time of Christ (about 250 A.D.), archeological finds show that the "Tomb Culture" (which lasted into the 7th century and became the first fully historical Japanese civilization, as the Japanese did not begin to keep a written history until they imported the Chinese system of writing) was dominated by a "highly aristocratic society led by a warrior class". These became the Samurai. Earthen burial mounds evolved into stone tombs, whose artistic decorations and contents reveal that they had horses, armour, and well-made iron weapons [ Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, 1984, Vol. 14, "Japan" ]. This movie takes place in the 1870's!

The costume department did HEAVY research on Samurai armour of the time, the materials used, and how the armour was actually sewn together. They found that Samurai armour was highly evolved and individualistic. The crew made all the armour by hand, putting it together the way it would have been, using historically accurate materials. They even persevered to the point of contracting a spring-manufacturing company for springs the right size, so they could cut the springs into peices and make them into rings to be hand-stitched into actual chain mail [ Official Website for the movie "The Last Samurai" ].

In other words, the hundreds of suits of armour hand-made for this movie are historically accurate and individualized. The reviewers ASSUME that some Hollywood production people, by default, couldn't possibly know anything about Samurai armour, and instead shine the spotlight on their own ignorance of all things Japanese.

Some reviewers make fun of the movie's "shallowness"...but their GLARING errors reveal they are easily confused and grossly misinformed. Yet it's a straightforward movie! The very "simplicity" they made fun of!